Compulsive hoarding is a disorder estimated to affect up to 2 million people throughout the United States. With rooms often littered with boxes, newspapers, prized possessions and even dirty dishes, hoarding involves the inability to objectively sort and discard personal possessions.
Not only is hoarding damaging to the hoarder’s quality of life, the hoarding behavior impacts the lives of family members who must endure the clutter are are left wondering how to help a hoarder. Often, hoarders are unaware of the extent of their problem or that their lifestyle is bothersome to others.
What is Hoarding?
According to the Anxiety Disorders Center at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, compulsive hoarding is a disabling disorder in which a person accumulates so much household clutter that even walking through the home becomes difficult.
While little is known about the nature of hoarding, it’s thought to possible be related to depression, social anxiety, bipolar disorder, impulse control disorder, and certain personality traits. Hoarding behavior is centered on:
- Processing Information
- Possessions Value
- Emotional Distress Caused by Discarding Objects
Hoarders often lack the ability to categorize items and know where to later find them. This often manifests in hoarders, who leave possessions visible so the items can be retrieved when needed.
The perceived value of possessions also factors into the disorder as hoarders often attach strong sentimental attachment to items, as well as the need to maintain control so that no one touches or moves the items. The distress caused by moving or discarding objects usually creates panic and a range of negative emotions for hoarders.
New Research Shows Differences in Hoarder’s Brain Activity
In the March 8, 2008 MSNBC article by Diane Mapes titled, “Engulfed in Clutter, Hoarders Keep Heaping it on,” Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program at the University of California, explains the results of a recent study on 20 hoarders and 18 non-hoarders. Saxena discovered hoarders exhibited lower activity in a section of the brain which handles decision-making, attention focus, and emotion regulation.
Saxena explains, “This pattern was not seen in other OCD patients, nor in the normal controls. It looks like compulsive hoarding is truly a distinctive diagnostic category, which has big implications for both diagnosis and treatment.”
If this research holds true, then it may be only a matter of time before medication or some other treatment are able to stimulate this low-activity area of the brain.
Hoarding impacts the quality of life for both the hoarder and his or her family. While medical treatments are stilling being refined, family members wrangle with how to help hoarders in their life. Through a combination of medications and cognitive therapy, hoarders may be able to move beyond their hoarding issues.
Allen Williams - Allen Williams is a freelance writer with varied interests ranging from information architecture to reality TV and cooking. He considers ...
